BIM and Mechanical Engineering—A Cross-Disciplinary Analysis

Mechanical Engineering (ME) includes the design, manufacturing, assembly, and maintenance of mechanical subsystems for Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Owner-Operator (AECO) projects. The intense adoption of information and communication technology in the AECO started with building product modelling, which was originally pioneered in the ME domain (i.e., automotive industry). The complexity and limited openness of product models paved the way for Building Information Modelling (BIM). Today, BIM workflows require an exchange of interoperable architecture, structure, and MEP/HVAC models and their seamless integration into a shared BIM model. Many specialized ME systems exist (i.e., medical gases and vacuum) for which BIM is not mature enough and where the role of BIM has not yet been studied. Therefore, a comprehensive cross-disciplinary analysis on the mutual influence of the BIM and the ME domain is needed for researchers and professionals. It identifies research fields and trends at the intersection of BIM and ME and analyzes their scope, limitations, and requirements for future extensions of BIM for better integration with ME. The analysis is based on an extensive literature search considering the interdisciplinary nature of ME. The initial collection of papers has undergone a rigorous bibliometric analysis that used a text mining approach for validation. Results show the field “Industry 4.0” as the most prosperous BIM influencing research field, followed by “Energy optimisation” and “Environmental Product Declaration”, while identifying “Geometric optimisation” and “Reinforced material” as the trendiest. Finally, conclusions on the impact of BIM on ME were drawn and 11 research opportunities were identified. This paper provides directions for studies where research is focused on the integration of ME systems in BIM workflows and on the extension of BIM capability to model future ME systems.